Angel Returns
by MikeyBKS
Summary: During the events of Surprise (Buffy Season 2) Angel left on that boat, hoping to dispose of a box containing the arm of the judge. Now, 2 years later, he has returned. Set during Buffy season 4, Angel is in for a shock. Is Buffy still alive? Did Acathla ever come forth? What is the initiative? and what ever happened to Jenny Calander
1. Introduction

Just want to start off saying I do not own any of the characters in this story. But thanks Joss for creating them.

Ok so this is set during season 4 of Buffy, its basically a what if sort of story, with the what if being…

What if Angel left during season 2 of Buffy, only to come back.

Ok so hear goes, enjoy…

Previously on Buffy the Vampire Slayer

_(think of these as flash backs) This is just a brief recap of the events in Surprise._

Buffy is on the way to her 17th birthday when her and Ms. Calendar come across what looks to be some kind of theft. Buffy gets out of the car and sneaks toward the possible crooks. One turns and its Dalton, one of spikes men .

"Every time I see you you're stealing something. You should talk to somebody

about this klepto issue." – Buffy sarcastically states

WHUMP! Buffy is attacked by a hulking vampire, she fights him off, but is distracted when she hears the truck start.

Buffy moves to the back of the truck to intercept Dalton and the box that he is stealing. Dalton knows he's no match for her and runs off, leaving the box behind. Buffy see's a piece of wood laying on the floor and quickly throws it through the air, it lands right in Daltons back and through the heart, he falls to the floor an turns to dust.

Everyone waits inside the bronze, Angel waiting impatiently "where is she?"

"Shhhhhhh"

Buffy and the hulking vampire come CRASHING through the window onto the stage of the Bronze. Glass flies everywhere. Buffy has the upper hand however and he stakes him. Dusto-rama.

A long, stunned beat. Everyone stares. Then Cordelia POPS from behind a couch. "Surprise!"

Miss Calendar comes through the door carrying the iron box that the vamps left. Buffy slowly lifts the lid. Everyone peers into the box. Their faces register shock and amazement. In the box is a powerful, heavily armoured arm.

Then the arm shoots from the box - GRABS BUFFY BY THE NECK. After fighting the arm they manage to get it back in the box

"It can't be- She wouldn't... " Angel says in shock "It's a legend. Way before my time. Of a demon brought forth to rid the earth of the plague of humanity. To separate the righteous from the wicked... And burn the righteous down. They called him the Judge"

"we have to get this out of town" states Giles quite sharply

"Angel" Jenny quickly adds, "You've got to do it. You're the only one who can protect this thing"

"I can catch a cargo ship to Asia, maybe trek to Nepal..." Angel mumbles to himself "I can't fly. There's no sure way to guard against the daylight. I don't like this any more than you do, Buffy. But there's no other way"

Buffy and Angel meet eyes. Buffy knows he has to go - but she's desperate for him not to. Everyone stands silently amid the festive decorations. This was not the way it was supposed to happen, it was her 17th Birthday after all

Now at the Sunnydale docks, Angel, who holds the box, and Buffy move furtively down the docks toward a large ship. They stop when they are still some distance away. Angel sets the box down. Buffy tries to smile, be the brave little soldier, But can't.

"I'll be back" Angel says as he looks into Buffy's eyes "I will"

Buffy nods unconvinced "When? Six months? A year? Who knows how long it will take"

"I... have something for you. For your birthday. I was going to give it to you earlier, but..." Angel pulls a small box from his coat and hands it to her. Buffy opens it, inside is a silver ring with two hands holding a heart engraved on it. It was a claddagh ring.

Buffy doesn't want Angel to go, with all her heart, nor does Angel, but they both know he has to. He takes her into his arms and they kiss. The potentially last kiss kind of kiss.

"Buffy…I… I love you" Angel finally manages to get them words to leave his mouth


	2. Welcome back to the Hellmouth

**2 Years Later**

**Chapter 1 – Welcome back**

It was late at night, the air was cold but clear.

At the Sunnydale docks just on the outskirts of Sunnydale, a rather large boat full of old boxes and fish nets had just arrived.

A tall dark figure appeared at the top of the ramp going from the boat to the land below it. The dark figure started to walk down the ramp, he was wearing a long thick black coat, and his dark hair looked rather messy. The man looked very pale, but made up for it with his handsome looks and angelic face.

It was Angel

He got off the ramp and put his hands in his pockets, he pulled out a chunk of notes from within his left pocket.

"yup that should just about do it" came the voice of a rather large man with a big red beard, who was walking down the ramp behind Angel. His clothes were mucky; they looked as if they had not been washed in awhile. His white t-shirt was now brown, and his dark blue coat had tears and cig burns all over. "I'm going to assume its all there?"

Angel looked at the man with a slight smile, "off course, but hey you could always check it if you don't trust me"

"Na no need to do that Angel, I trust you. It's been very interesting riding with you I must say, but your not so bad, even if you did keep to yourself most of the time" the man laughed. "Anyway you take care Angel, safe travels and all that"

The man took the wad of notes off Angel and walked back up the ramp. He started barking orders at his crew to unload the old crates, as they were setting sail within the hour. Angel looked up at the sky and closed his eyes. He was back, after 2 long years, he was finally home, and he only had one thing on his mind, "Buffy".

It had been 2 years since he had last seen her. He had lost contact with her while abroad, trying to find a place to dispose of that horrible box that contained the arm of an ancient demon called The Judge, it was now long gone, and during his travels he encountered lots of strange goings on that prevented him from coming home sooner. Blind monks who were controlling a small village, a strange shroud that sent people crazy and an old acquaintance of his named Boone, a demon he had met in Juarez in the 1920s who had a score to settle with Angel. That was just to name a few of the situations he founds himself involved with, all big distractions that stopped him from returning.

But he never stopped thinking about Buffy. The last time he saw her was at these very docks, admitting his love and leaving her heart broken. He had tried writing to her, but was unable to do so after a rather close encounter with someone who he assumed to be one of spikes men, who was looking for him and that box. He thought it would be safer to cut all ties.

Was she alright? Had she moved on? Was she even alive? These were just some of the thoughts that were running through his mind. Then there was the issue of spike and Dru, and he hoped they were long gone, he had not heard much about them through his travels. He walked away from the docks and into the shadows, first thing he needed to do was find her.

He walked through the streets of Sunnydale, everything seemed to be the same. People still walking around with their day to day lives, completely oblivious to the fact that they were living on a hellmouth, and to the evil that lived there.

Angel approached Buffy's house, it was completely in the dark, there were no lights on, and no sign of anybody being there. He walk up to the front door, and peaked through the window, everything was nice and tidy, he could see a picture hung up on the wall of Buffy and her mother, however there were no movements from within the summers residence.

It was a Monday night; he knew the bronze, the usual hangout spot for the 'scoobies', would be closed at this time. His next thought turned to the Library. It had been 2 years, he knew Buffy would not go to school at Sunnydale high anymore, but he couldn't imagine them moving from the library, all those books and weapons, their safe haven, and he assumed that Giles would still be working their as a librarian. He turned around and walked away from Buffy's house, and headed towards the school.

He cut through a nearby park, on the lookout for vampires or any other creatures. He wondered if spike and Dru knew he was back, he wondered if Dru had foreseen it in her dreams. She may have been crazy, but she knew exactly what was going on most of the time.

It was quiet and peaceful. Somewhere, far away Angel could hear the sound of a babbling brook. Night sounds begin to filter in. An owl far away. Night birds chirping. Angel was sticking to a small dark path in the park, the only light coming from the stars above. He had the feeling he was being watched, but pressed ahead anyway. A few minutes later and he knew something was following him, probably in the bushes; he stopped as he heard a twig snap, the old tell tale sign maybe. Vampire!.

"Don't you know it's rude to sneak up on someone" he said out loud. He turned around slowly, expecting to see some vampire looking for an easy kill. But he was confused by what he saw.

Standing their opposite him, was some sort of soldier, dressed in dark green camouflage, and wearing a black balaclava. He had some sort of weapon pointed towards him, the man was focusing on Angel with absolute concentration, but without any fear. Two other figures appeared on both sides of Angel, again dressed in camouflage and pointing guns at him.

"Vampire" one of the men said, sounding angry at the very word.

Angel looked at them and tried to judge the situation, he was slightly confused. "So whose idea was the welcoming committee?"

"Our orders are to bring him in" barked one of the other soldiers. "Shot to the head should do it"

Angel looked at them all; he didn't have time for this, he need to see Buffy. He wondered if this was some sort of vigilante group, probably college students, who have started to fight back against vampires.

"Ok guys I really appreciate this little welcome back gathering but I have things to do and people to see. So put them toy guns of yours down and nobody has to get hurt"

"You think we are just gonna let you walk away vampire?" barked the third soldier

"I guess not" Angel said calmly.

All of a sudden he grabbed the gun that belonged to the soldier in front of him with his right hand and pushed it into the air, it started to fire some sort of electric bolt. At the same time he swung his left fist into the soldiers face, instantly breaking his nose on impact. He then used his elbows to hit the two soldiers next to him, knocking them both to the ground before they got chance to fire at him. It all happened so fast the soldiers had no control of the situation. He picked one of the soldiers up from the floor and chucked him into a tree, knocking him out instantly. A shot of electric came towards Angel, however he rolled out the way and hit another tree behind him. The soldier looked around trying to find his target, when Angel came out from behind him and grabbed the back of his head, "good dogs don't bite" and he launched him into the air, the man went right into a bench and fell to the floor, he was not getting back up anytime soon.

All three soldiers were down and out; Angel took this as his cue to get out of there. Just what the hell was going on here he thought to himself. Was it only a group of 3 or were they more? And since when did the army start fighting demons and evil.

Angel was out of the park. Making sure nobody else was following him. He had not been off that boat that long and already he had been ambushed. He needed to get to the library to see what was going on around here. The school was not far from his current location. Hopefully there would be no more surprises on the way.

There was a cold wind now blowing in the air. Angel walked towards the field opposite the school. However it was in complete darkness. Something wasn't right; he got closer and closer, only to find the school in ruins. Just what the hell was going on? Angel was in disbelief as to what he was seeing in front of him. He stared at the building that was formally Sunnydale high school; it looked like it had been blown apart, or hit by bombs. There was no sign of life coming from the building, no noise, just complete silence. He found it to be pretty eerie.

The sun was going to be up soon. Angel needed to get some cover. He decided to go inside the school for cover, this would also give him a chance to look around, maybe find out what had happened. He walked passed a sign leading up to the front, he read it as he walked by "Enter, all ye who seek knowledge" he said to himself

The main entrance was boarded up, very loosely, but he managed to easily gain access through one of the windows to an old classroom. Once in the hallways Angel headed to where the library used to be.

The walls were just a mess; there was rubble all over the place, and what looked to be some sort of burnt rotting meat. The building looked completely unstable. Just what had happened here Angel thought to himself, and why did he have a feeling that Buffy was involved with this.

He got to where the library should be, however all that was there was a large crater. It looked like some sort of ground zero. Whatever had happened here had to have started at the library. There was just nothing left of it, quite a sad sight really he thought. He remembered the times he had spent there, helping Buffy and the team.

Angel managed to lower himself onto the ground of the crater. This would have been the basement, he looked up at the big hole, he could see the sky and all of its stars. "I bet Giles is pissed".

He heard a noise coming from somewhere down one of the thin corridors of what was once the basement. It sounded like music, very faint. He moved towards it. He approached a door that was still intact. He could see small glimpses of light coming from the room behind the door. The music was now loud and clear, it sounded like some music from the 50's, The Flamingos or some other group like that. Without thinking Angel kicked the door open. His foot slammed hard against the rusted metal door.

The door burst open. The room was full of candles, with a small stereo balancing on a small table made up of bricks. There was graffiti all over the walls. Angel had interrupted a couple who were sat on the floor making out. They were sitting on an old blanket neatly placed on the floor. The couple looked young, probably about 17 maybe 18. They looked up at angel in shock. "what the hell man" said the guy as he quickly sprung up and turned off the music. The girl looked quite startled. "you can just burst in on people like that man, what's your deal" the guy added.

"What happened here? With the school" Angel asked very abruptly.

The guy looked at angel with slight confusion. "What? Are you being serious? Who are you man"

The girl had got up off the floor and walked slowly behind her boyfriend.

"I had friends that came to this school, what happened here, tell me" Angel asked, no change in his tone

"Where have you been man, everyone knows what happened here" The guy acted as if Angel was from another planet.

"It was awful" the girl added. "It was a tragedy really, all those students that died"

A worried look started to appear on Angels face. "Died?"

The girl continued, "The Principal, the Mayor… They never did find out for sure what started the fire"

"Come on Becky lets get the hell out of here, this guy is giving me the creeps" The guy dragged his girlfriend by the arms and they brushed passed Angel.

Angel was trying to let the information sink in. He knew that Buffy had something to do with it. She had told him once of her previous school in L.A, and that she had to burn the school gym down because of vampires. He wondered if the same sort of thing had happened here.

He needed to get to her. But the sun was coming up, Angel was going nowhere. He would have to make base here at the school for the day, and search for Buffy as soon as the sun went down. He just hoped that she was alright.


End file.
